


A Little Kindness

by Leni



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 19:22:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3261488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock wakes up tired and grumpy. Mrs. Hudson does not care.</p>
<p>Or, Learning To Be Loved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Kindness

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Mahmfic at [Comment Fic](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/329544.html?thread=58766408#t58766408): Prompt: **learning to be loved.**

Sherlock blamed the last case that had been thrown his way. If he hadn't been awake until past four in the morning following the chain of events that had led to a mailman fainting in shock when one of the packages under his charge started leaking blood, he wouldn't have succumbed to such deep sleep that he hadn't heard the intruder in his apartment until she was halfway through her charity mission.

"It's too early," he mumbled, fighting hard not to rub the sleep off his eyes. He didn't care that it was past midday, right after he rose from bed was _not_ the best timing for this particular squabble. He knew that much from experience. He might be smarter, but she was stubborn. And sweet. And, to make things even worse, his usual weapons - sarcasm and the painful truth - only got deep sighs and sad head shakes from her. 

As Mrs. Hudson had told him early in their acquaintanceship, "I'm sure there's a bite to all that barking, boy, but it isn't scaring me."

Then she'd offered him a permanent roof over his head, and he'd decided hers was a kind of madness he could live with.

Even when it drove her to clean after him. 

"Mrs. Hudson," he tried, digging out his most polite tone. It sounded rusty to his own ears, but by now he wouldn't even consider talking to her in any other way. He actually _liked_ his landlady, and up to a point, he did care about her opinion of him (which, according to her current grumbling, seemed to be that he was a wasteful sloth who worked too much - he didn't feel like pointing out the contradiction there). "I told you I didn't need-"

"Tsk," the older woman cut him off sharply, adding another dirty plate to the stack in her hands. "What you don't need is to live in a sty, Sherlock."

"I don't-!"

She straightened and looked at him. Just looked. A look his mother had perfected when he was seven. And just like he did when his mother used that look, he felt so tempted to stomp his foot and stalk away to his room. Slam the door shut, too.

"I can take care of myself," he told her instead. Firmly.

She didn't say a word. She just hefted up the plates she was carrying - more than what he'd used during this last case, and both of them knew it. 

He so hated losing the high ground. "I'm taking my time," he told her anyway.

"Sure." But he knew that the woman hadn't changed her plans at all. Indeed, she gave him a look from head to toes, and waved him off back toward his room. "Go back to sleep, dear. You look dead on your feet. It'll be all done when you wake up."

"But-"

And that look again.

Sherlock took a deep sigh. "I _will_ get a roommate, Mrs. Hudson."

And that roommate would keep his landlady from invading.

"Good idea," she returned, heading toward the kitchen and its dishwasher. "But in the meanwhile, you should learn to accept a little kindness, Sherlock."

The real kindness would be to leave him alone, but he bit his tongue because he knew there was no way he could be polite while saying it.

Instead he whirled around and strode toward his room.

And, just this once, he slammed the door behind him.

 

The End  
25/01/15


End file.
